Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Mindful

We are not immune from burnout here at Mindful. It takes constant communication for our small but mighty team to feel supported, balanced, fair, healthy—to create the psychological safety necessary for all of us to show up, make mistakes, fix them… and be real together so we can make quality things together. We use weekly “Too Hot To Handle” check-ins to take each others’ temperature, see who’s “on fire,” and discuss how we can spread the work around to make sure we’re hot enough to keep us warm, not burn us out. Sometimes our systems fail us. Sometimes we take on too much. It takes all of us working together to maintain compassionate systems that support our thriving at work. This New Year, rather than offering you a “New Year,…

FISH TALE When Kira, a college freshman, learned she couldn’t bring her pet betta fish Theo on her flight home for the summer, Southwest Air employees Ismael and his fiancée Jamee offered to fish-sit. After four months of receiving text and photo updates of the happy fish, Kira went back to school and was reunited with Theo. GOOD TALK Instead of turning in the 16-year-old who had mugged his nephew, Winston Davis had a conversation with him and learned that the teen had no parents, job, or education. So they made a deal: If the boy returned the backpack he stole, Davis would use his community connections to help the boy change his path. Since then, Davis says the offers for money, education, and mentorship have flooded in. MOUSE HOUSE…

Now is a critical moment to bolster mental health support for school-aged children and teenagers, say Ben Painter and Selena La’Chelle Collazo, two of four partners at Whole-School Mindfulness. “I think a lot of schools are in crisis mode,” says Painter, who focuses on strategic growth for the organization. WholeSchool Mindfulness helps schools create, fill, and support the position of a Mindfulness Director—a permanent staff member who works at a school and teaches mindfulness to students, staff, and parents. “We strive to live out justice by partnering with communities to practice joy, equity, and inclusion, so community is woven throughout the way that we think about the work that we do,” says La’Chelle Collazo, who is responsible for outreach and recruitment of Mindfulness Directors. Since 2019, WholeSchool has placed 15…

If you find yourself struggling to start or keep up a meditation practice, you’re not alone. Although the instructions for basic mindfulness meditation are simple (pay attention to your breathing in and out; when your mind wanders, notice that and gently bring the attention back to your breath), that doesn’t mean meditating itself is always easy. Research suggests that new and experienced meditators alike face barriers to practice. For instance, a study I published with colleagues in 2020 found that new meditators often question whether meditation will in fact be beneficial, and doubt whether they’re meditating correctly. New meditators may also struggle to find space and time for regular practice, and may worry that meditation conflicts with their cultural or familial norms. Even after people complete a formal meditation course,…

On busy days, you might only have the time it takes to walk to the bathroom to practice. Use those few moments to activate your connection to your senses. Come out of your head and make sure that you are operating in the here and now. If you can feel your feet making contact with the ground, congratulations, you are present, because the present moment is the only time you can experience the sensations of touch. Everything else is just a memory. Busy days are great days to be intentional about watching the thoughts that rile you up. As soon as your thought parade starts to heat you up, you can be mindful. In other words, pay attention to what’s cooking with you. A FEW OPTIONS FOR THE PRESENT MOMENT…

You click out of Netflix after watching a whole season of a show, only to realize how late it is and that you have to go to work the next day. What happened to the time? Many aspects of technology hijack our attention so that we become disconnected from the present moment. We can easily lose track of time and our surroundings. We might be caught up in habitual reactions rather than making time for thoughtful responses. We might communicate in ways that do not actually serve our basic human needs or those of others. We can start to have a sense of not being fully connected to our lives and the people in them. We can lose our connection to our bodies. We can lose ourselves. Furthermore, many of…

STEPHANIE DOMET: What makes this the right time for this book—what feels urgent? CAVERLY MORGAN: I don’t think I’m just projecting onto others when I recognize that in myself there was a type of turbulence that didn’t let me move through the world on behalf of my deepest love and understanding, on behalf of my deepest knowing. It feels authentic for me to say that others in this time, too, long for a way to reconcile that. The questions I was asking were: How does my personal mindfulness practice, which has brought me a lot of peace, a lot of benefit, that I know “works”—how does that directly relate to injustices in the world, the massive structural processes of othering that lead to tremendous harm? Are those two things separate?…

PAY ATTENTION TO TASK SWITCHING A politician’s day is filled with an extreme overload of information and changing tasks, requiring them to shift and navigate what takes priority. Mindfulness has proven deeply beneficial with demands on attention and prioritization, offering a greater ability to regulate attention and focus. “I found the course extremely helpful in focusing my mind, reducing stress and improving concentration,” said a parliamentarian. MAKE TIME FOR REAL REST AND REFLECTION Mindfulness has helped politicians recognize the need to take breaks, using them to relax and restore their energy. These moments of quiet and calm are important for them to reconnect with themselves and touch base with their values so they can align with their inner compass. One parliamentarian said, “Mindfulness need not be thought of only as…

Our mental habits can be both useful and far from useful. In order to tell the difference, we first have to notice them. While practicing mindfulness, we guide ourselves out of reactive stress mode and pause. From there, we observe how we think more clearly without judging ourselves as flawed for whatever we find. We can set new intentions moving forward with ease and even a little kindness. In this practice, we sit for a moment and note thoughts as they come and go, just as we might lie back in the grass on a warm autumn day and watch the sky. Later, you may choose to problem-solve or run with a creative idea you had during this practice. But for just a few minutes we let it all slide,…

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and confused about how to engage with the world from a place of strength, groundedness, and calm. Try this awareness practice to foster three key insights: clarity of intention; understanding of our power, presence, and impact; and opportunities for wise action-taking. We don’t have to know all the answers. We are simply inviting in reflection and introspection to allow insights and awareness of body and mind to arise. Whatever arises, see if you can meet it with self-compassion and curiosity. 1 First, let us bring our attention to our heart space by gently placing a hand over the heart, allowing it to simply rest there. Placing a hand over the heart can often bring us comfort when we explore difficult thoughts, emotions, or experiences.…

THE MINDFUL TEEN WORKBOOK Patricia Rockman, MD; Allison McLay, DCS; and M. Lee Freedman, MD • New Harbinger Nothing can kill the spirit of genuine mindfulness more quickly than a one-size-fits-all attitude, and nowhere is that illustrated more potently than with teenagers. If you impose a fixed idea of anything from above and try to impose it—subtly or overtly—teens will reject it and rebel against it. Why? Because they should know better? No. Because they do know better. The energy of inquisitiveness and questioning that is a hallmark of mid-adolescence—about 16 to 19 years old, since adolescence lasts from roughly age 12 to 24—is a developmental and societal necessity. Otherwise, no dynamic change would emerge from the next generation of people who will inherit what’s been left for them. If…

3 PRACTICES TO COME HOME TO YOURSELF 1 A Guided Meditation to Give Gratitude for Your Body from Elaine Smookler Between our inner critic and external messages about what a “good” body looks, feels, and acts like, we can be so hard on ourselves. But our bodies do so much for us. With this practice, we take a moment to offer gratitude for the body that will accompany us through life. Elaine Smookler guides a lighthearted and compassionate body scan to bring a spirit of curiosity and appreciation to what’s happening in our body right now. 2 Guided Meditation: Notice How Sadness, Loneliness, and Anger Show Up in Your Body from Sharon Salzberg When we try to ignore or push away strong emotions, they have a tendency to hang around…

As a teenager, I had some pretty severe sports injuries—to my ankle, foot, and knee—so swimming became my exercise of choice. I can’t say I always love it. It’s refreshing when you first hit the water, but lane swimming is a lot of back-and-forth. You go nowhere over and over again. Naturally, then, it lends itself to a form of meditation practice, and that’s the part I think I do love. As I’ve spent years going back and forth in pools one thing has stood out for me: the line (usually blue) on the bottom of the pool. That line is the reference point to let you know you’re on track. It’s what the attention returns to. There are also buoy ropes on either side that define the lane, guardrails…

GROWING UP KIND Mindfulness interventions using kindness- and compassion-based meditation may be linked to improved well-being and behavior. Researchers at King’s College London reviewed 10 studies with 807 youth where encouraging kindness or compassion for others improved stress, anxiety, depression, negative mood, behavior and attention problems, and mindfulness. Analyses of studies using self-compassion meditation found significant positive changes in stress, anxiety, depression, negative mood, mindfulness, self-compassion, life satisfaction, resilience, gratitude, and curiosity. Gains in prosocial behavior and cognitive function were also identified in two studies. Overall, results indicate that kindness and compassion can benefit mental health and well-being in youth. These effects were generally stronger in research with younger, healthy children and those that used experienced meditation teachers. Self-compassion meditation created significant positive changes in stress, anxiety, resilience, gratitude, and…

1 Try meditating in a group, either in-person or virtually When it comes to health behaviors, research consistently shows that social support and watching other people do what we want to do helps us integrate it into our own lives. Although it’s tempting to practice in isolation using the variety of smartphone applications and readily available online resources on meditation (and doing so can be very helpful), the energy of a group can be sustaining. Look for meditation groups at local meditation or counseling centers, or start your own. 2 Each time you practice, pause and remind yourself why you’re meditating Is it to live life more fully, be less emotionally reactive, or offer more compassion to others? Research indicates that our behavioral intentions partially drive our actions. If we…

First-generation mindfulness interventions, for the most part based on MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), are designed to improve personal well-being and help individuals feel grounded, even in chaotic circumstances. But it’s “quite medieval,” says Dr. Jutta Tobias Mortlock, to imagine that a personal meditation practice is all that’s required to help individuals work better together. We now know, says Mortlock, that spending a lot of time in solitary contemplative practice “is not necessarily a guarantee that one learns something, especially as it pertains to understanding what helps me relate to you.” We can’t always access the insights we need through our solo practice. The interpersonal dimension of workplaces is “a huge and under-studied stressor,” says Mortlock. “The absence of interpersonal conflict makes everything else doable.” It’s the potential of mindful communication…

Reflect 1 What do you love about your technology? What are the reasons and ways you use it? 2 What is the impact of technology on your life, both positive and negative? 3 Consider how an ideal day might look for you. Write it out in as much detail as you can, including how you’d use technology. What will you do? How will you do it? How will you feel? Dig Deep 1 Think about what’s really important to you. What do you want to have seen or demonstrated as part of your life? Choose the five values that are most important to you. 2 Take each of these values and do a free write on what they mean to you. For example, if authenticity is a value you chose,…

Encountering the people, places, and things that activate us out in the real world can feel like too much all at once. For example, when our nervous system rehashes an old pattern of feeling unsettled or unsafe, because that’s how we felt the last time X happened, it’s difficult to take a step back from that and stay present right now. That’s one reason journaling is such a powerful tool. A mindful journaling practice provides a quiet space for us to intentionally explore what is arising, how it’s rooted in our survival strategies, and what we can give ourselves instead to meet our needs in a wise and loving way. In your journal, with gentleness and over time, explore: • Where in your life does “power over” versus “power with”…

Rest is essential. Rest is an imperative. It is also a radical act to slow down, shift, restore, and regenerate. Fire has four stages: ignition, growth, full development, and decay. Sometimes fires are cleansing, creating fertile ground for new growth. And sometimes fires consume everything in their path until they run out of heat, fuel…oxygen. If the latter sounds like something you can relate to, you’re not alone. Burnout has become so prevalent, it’s being talked about as “the new normal,” with some studies showing 77% of workers saying they have experienced burnout at their current job. Healing burnout is past the point of being a collective imperative. We all need to take a beat. Breathe. And find ways to skillfully use our resources to replenish and renew. Healing burnout…

The present moment is where togetherness, play, and fun live. By cultivating presence, we become more conscious of all the goodness in our lives—we discover we have a choice of what we pay attention to in any moment. Even in times of challenge and adversity, we can access a sense of ease, relaxation, and calm. Presence also allows us to show up fully for other people with kindness and care (even if we don’t always agree with them). By helping others feel seen and heard, we nurture a sense of safety in which discussion and collaboration, instead of conflict, can become the norm. Here are two ways to practice mindfulness in “stealth mode,” meaning you can practice at any time, anywhere, under any circumstances, without anyone even noticing. TAKE THREE…

Mindful speech can be defined as speaking authentically from our heart. Usually, we just open our mouths and let whatever comes out come out. Often we speak when we want to fill the space, when we’re uncomfortable, when we don’t know what else to do. When speaking mindfully, however, we choose our words with a bit more care and intention. Invite a family member, friend, or partner to explore this practice with you. Communicating this way may feel clunky at first, but over time, listening and speaking mindfully will start to be second nature, and the sense of understanding, acceptance, and happiness in your relationships will deepen. When you’re listening: Give your full attention to the other person. Become aware of your body (breath, feet, hands, etc.) from time to…

HIDDEN BRAIN Episode: “A Better Way to Worry” “Our stock response when we hear a blaring alarm is to do one of two things,” host Shankar Vedantam says. “Turn it off or run in the opposite direction.” In this fascinating conversation with clinical psychologist and Future Tense author Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Vedantam explores what happens when we engage with our internal alarms with curiosity. Dennis-Tiwary offers a third response to a blaring alarm in your mind: Anxiety doesn’t need to be soothed. Instead, it can be honored. The paradox of anxiety, Dennis-Tiwary says, is that when you unpack the information anxiety presents, and take wise action based on that information, anxiety dissipates. – KR ON BEING WITH KRISTA TIPPETT Episode: adrienne maree brown, “We are in a time of new suns.”…

Currently, 92% of the English countryside is inaccessible to the public. Reviving an ancient custom of wandering freely, the Right to Roam campaign seeks change through music, picnics, and joy. Campaigners promote responsible stewardship of the land and broader access to nature’s health benefits. An Ontario summer camp brought together rural high-school students alongside healthcare professionals to explore career options in health care, while sharing tools like meditation to maintain well-being in a demanding field. In California, a law taking effect Jan. 1, 2023, decriminalizes jaywalking where “it is safe to do so.” While lawmakers rightly recognize that jaywalking laws enable racial profiling and penalize lower-income people, it’s hardly radical to say that people shouldn’t get criminal charges for crossing a street. “Wally does things alligators do not do,” Joseph…

The silence was crushing. I could hear loud screaming and realized it was coming from inside my head. A friend (?) had signed me up for a mindfulness retreat to help me find some peace. Mostly what I noticed was the not-so-peaceful thought: If the person behind me takes one more diabolical slurp of water, I am going to hasten their impermanence, pronto. If I had been allowed to talk, I would have yelled that if mindfulness was the wave of the future—I could wait! That was 25 years and almost 10,000 hours of practice ago. How on earth did I stick around? And why??? You don’t have to look too hard to see mindfulness popping up in hospitals, schools, around kitchen tables, and in corporations. Burnout is taking us…

1 Prepare as a team Brainstorm around your challenges. As a leader, share a personal concern about an upcoming challenge and invite team members to reciprocate. Where do concerns overlap and diverge? What do individual team members focus on? How can the team prepare to master the challenge together? Get to know each other’s needs and stress triggers. Strengthen personal connections by helping team members understand each other as human beings and learn how to support one another in times of need. One way to do this is to have team members share “manuals of me,” whereby individuals complete sentences such as “I do my best work when…” or “When I’m stressed, the best way to help me is…” Empower everyone to communicate. Regularly check whether all voices are heard…

Beneath every stressful emotion sits a thought—a thought that may or may not actually be true. Once you question the validity of the thought, the accompanying stress in the mind and body starts to fall away. That’s the basic insight of the practice of inquiry. The simple act of questioning the thoughts that shape our reality (especially when they create stress, anger, or frustration) opens the door to living a life with more compassion, ease, and openness to new possibilities. You can integrate this practice into everyday life—standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for your plane to take off, or waiting for a doctor’s appointment—with the simple steps of Notice, Shift, and Rewire. Like letting the air out of a tire, inquiry is an inner technology for gradually…

We tend to focus all our love on the people we care about—yet, to connect more deeply with others, we must turn toward the one person we keep on the shortest leash: ourselves. We often reject other people’s care or attention when we believe we don’t deserve it. This practice reminds us that there’s nothing special we must do to deserve love. You are worthy of love simply because you exist. 1 Begin to imagine you’re encircled by people who love you. As you sit comfortably with your eyes open or a soft gaze, imagine yourself in the center of a circle made up of the most loving beings you’ve met. There may be some people in your circle who you’ve never met, but who have inspired you. Maybe they…